Iran says 60% uranium enrichment is meant to demonstrate its nuclear ability

Return to 3.67 per cent cap agreed in 2015 deal can quickly be achieved if US sanctions go, Tehran says

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, and the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi inspect the nuclear technology on the occasion of Iran National Nuclear Technology Day in Tehran in 2019. EPA

IR-8 centrifuges at Natanz nuclear power plant, some 300 kilometres south of capital Tehran. AFP

The Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr in 2010. EPA

Salehi speaks with media while visiting Natanz enrichment facility, in central Iran in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP

The gate of Natanz nuclear power plant in Natanz , Isfahan province, in 2019. EPA

Inside of the Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, in Fordow, Qom province in 2019. EPA

Technicians work at the Arak heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, as officials and media visit the site, near Arak, Iran in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP

Members of the media and officials tour the water nuclear reactor at Arak in 2019. WANA via Reuters

Concrete is poured for the base of the second nuclear power reactor at Bushehr plant in 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP

Iran began enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity to demonstrate its technical ability after a sabotage attack on a nuclear plant to the south of Tehran, but the measure can be reversed if the US lifts sanctions, the Iranian government said on Tuesday.

Talks in Austria to take the US and Iran back to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal were complicated by an explosion at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.

Iran responded by saying it was enriching uranium to 60 per cent fissile purity, a big step towards weapons grade from the 20 per cent it achieved some time ago.

The 2015 pact between Iran and six world powers capped purity at 3.67 per cent for Iran - suitable for generating civilian nuclear energy. The regime denies seeking an atomic weapon.

"The start of 60 per cent enrichment in Natanz was a demonstration of our technical ability to respond to terrorist sabotage at these facilities," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters in Tehran.

"This measure can quickly be reversed for a return to the agreed enrichment level in the nuclear accord if other parties commit to their obligations," Mr Rabiei said in remarks streamed live on a state-run website.

Tehran said the Natanz explosion was an act of sabotage by Israel, and on Saturday Iranian authorities named a suspect.

Israel has not formally commented on the incident.

Iran and world powers have made some progress on how to revive the 2015 accord abandoned by the US in 2018.

An interim deal could be a way to a lasting settlement, Iranian officials said on Monday.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told visiting British Cabinet Office Minister Michel Gove that Iran should not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon.

"Iran is undermining stability in the entire Middle East, and the international community must act to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. Not today and not in the future," an Israeli statement quoted Mr Ashkenazi as saying.